Rumors abound that J.J. Abrams won’t be the only Star Trek person to jump spaceship to the Star Wars franchise revival! Today, many reliable sources are reporting that Benedict Cumberbatch, of Sherlock and Star Trek Into Darkness fame, will join the cast of Disney and J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode VII revival.

According to reports, speculation surrounding Cumberbatch’s joining Star Wars started when he recently left Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak without publicly stating a reason for his departure.

Adding fuel to the fire, Cumberbatch recently spoke to TotalFilm on his connection to Star Wars, which he claims is much stronger than his connection to Star Trek:

I’ve already asked [J.J. Abrams] if I can be a lightsaber and we’re in talks – about whirring sounds and the rates for the lights and everything [laughs].

I thought, ‘Yeah, I grew up with them,’ and I just looked recently at when they were released and now I’m like, ‘No, I didn’t grow up with them, I was born with them.’ They were a huge part of my background, and my upbringing.

I was much more connected to [Star Wars] as a kid, in the way that a lot of kids are because it’s immediate storytelling, very simple – a beautifully, outrageously simple narrative in a way – and a wonderful three-act melodrama, opera. And I loved them. I really, really loved those films and I always wanted to be Han Solo. Everything Harrison Ford did I just thought was the coolest thing ever – Raiders Of The Lost Ark was very much my upbringing as well.

Earlier this week we reported a production start date for Star Wars, which means that it is very likely that we’ll start seeing casting leaks and announcements such as this.

As always with rumors, it’s important to remember that the information could be incorrect. We’ll continue to report on Benedict Cumberbatch’s potential role in Star Wars, as well as any additional production and casting announcements that come out of Disney in the coming weeks!

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Mike Macauley is the founder and editor in chief of Lytherus.com. He also founded and runs Shurtugal.com, the official Inheritance Cycle community, and published his book, The Inheritance Almanac, in 2011. Mike can be found on Twitter at @mikemacauley.